AFTER a long wait under four administrations (Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo), victims of the Marcos tyranny have more reasons to celebrate the 27th anniversary of EDSA People Power Revolution this year.
In three weeks, Filipinos will commemorate the February 1986 event which brought the People Power Revolution.
In this historic uprising, the voice of the people resonated throughout the country, and has been permanently etched in the pantheon of Philippine democracy.
The EDSA People Power Revolution continues to this day, as a reminder to Filipinos of how supporting a common stand can turn them to a formidable moral power.
Victims of human rights abuses (including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention under martial law, or those who suffered for the sake of democracy) can finally claim reparation from the government, as the Philippine Congress finally ratified Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 — giving compensation to thousands of human rights victims.
This came after both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the final version of the bill in a bicameral conference meeting on Monday, January 28.
The measure will now wait for approval by President Benigno Aquino III, whose father’s assassination sparked the uprising which overthrew the Marcos regime.
The bill stipulates that a human rights violation victim, during the regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, is now qualified to file a claim with the Human Rights Claim Board for reparation and/or recognition, as stated in Section 16 of the Act.
Successful claimants will secure compensation from the P10-billion with interest worth of funds transferred to the Philippine government by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 1997.
‘This is a first of such human rights legislation in the world where a state recognizes a previous administration’s fault against its own people and not only provides for, but also actually appropriates for reparation,” Sen. Francis Escudero said.
Escudero, who sponsored the bill and chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the compensation will also include non-monetary benefits like social and psychological assistance from different concerned government agencies.
Before the Congress hammered out the final version of the impending law, members of the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) trooped the Senate last week, urging the bicameral conference committee to pass the bill.
“We salute the Martial Law heroes who, despite old age, sickness, maneuvers of the Marcoses, and all other obstacles along the way, have painstakingly stood and fought to make sure that this bill granting reparation and recognition to the martial law victims is passed. We have gone a long way. We have long fought for this,” said SELDA Chairman Marie Hilao-Enriquez, a Martial Law victim herself.
“The bill’s passage is a victory not only for the victims but for the Filipino people. More than the monetary compensation, the bill represents the only formal, written document that martial law violated the human rights of Filipinos and that there were courageous people who fought the dictatorship,” Enriquez added.
With the victims of Martial law atrocities vindicated, revenge is indeed sweet, and justified. More than that, justice was served.
(AJPress)
